Islanders News

COLUMBUS WINS IN SHOOT OUT

The Islanders rallied in the second and third periods, but fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the shoot out, 4-3. David Vyborny scored for Columbus in the shoot out for the win, while the Islanders went 0-3. Mark Parrish tied the game with just 37 seconds remaining in the third, while Mike York and Trent Hunter scored in the second. The Isles fired off 40 shots on Columbus netminder Pascal Leclaire, while the Blue Jackets power play connected three times.

A needless penalty in the neutral zone on the first shift of the game led to the first score of the game when Nikolai Zherdev snapped home a point-blank chance past Rick DiPietro. The goal was the fifth of the season as Zherdev received a feed in the slot from Jan Hrdina. The play was the start of a failed clear by the Islanders after Brad Lukowich had blocked a blast from Duvie Westcott in the slot.

The march to the penalty box continued eight minutes in when both Brent Sopel and Alexei Zhitnik were shipped to the box, setting up a 5-on-3 for 47 ticks. That led to Adam Foote's goal at the 8:05 mark, his fourth of the season. The Columbus captain ripped a slapper from the left point past DiPietro. The necessitated a timeout called by Islanders' head coach Steve Stirling.

The Isles showed some late spunk in the first period and nearly got one of the board during a powerplay with Columbus serving a delay of game penalty. Leclaire made two great stops, including a diving, pad-stacking rejection of a Miro Saatan wrister on the doorstep. Once that penalty ended, Kevin Colley dropped the gloves off the faceoff vs. former Ranger Manny Malhotra for a bout, with Malhotra getting the takedown.

Mike York continued his hot play with his fourth goal in his last games just 1:04 into the second period. The center converted a rebound during a penalty to Westcott that started with Chris Campoli slapper that Leclaire stopped. With Trent Hunter chipping away and occupying two Columbus players, York snuck in and whacked home the loose puck into the Columbus net.

Yet, penalty problems for the Isles continued on the next shift when Mark Parrish and Wyatt Smith were called simultaneously for infractions. That put the hosts on a 5-on-3 for the full two minutes, but it was DiPietro and the Isles' penalty killers that rose to the opportunity and negated the scoring threat.

Midway through the same stanza, the Isles wound up receiving a 5-on-3 of their own. They'd fail to convert, although the powerplay generated several quality chances that Columbus' Leclaire managed to deny.

The worst powerplay in the NHL continued to dominate the Isles as Sergei Fedorov netted the third tally of the evening with 3:08 to go in the second. A scramble in front ensued when three Isles were late in helping DiPietro out after Geoff Platt's centering feed pinged in front. That allowed Fedorov to slip in and snap the puck past the downed Isles' goaltender.

With 1:55 left, Trent Hunter brought the Isles within one with his fourth of the season. The right wing ripped a shot from the left faceoff dot through Jason Blake's screen underneath Leclaire.

The first half of the third period was pretty uneventful with the Islanders power play misfiring on two opportunities. About nine minutes in, Leclaire took a nasty hit from one of his own skaters as Zherdev collided with him, which forced the netminders mask to pop off. Leclaire would stay in the game after a three-minute delay.

The action finally picked in the final two minutes of the period. With his team on the powerplay, Steve Stirling pulled DiPietro with a little over a minute remaining for a two-man advantage on the ice. Columbus Mike Rupp was in the penalty box for tripping as Parrish tied the game by digging out a lose puck and burring it past Leclaire. Brent Sopel took the original shot on goal from the point and Parrish did the dirty work for the equalizer. Alexei Zhitnik got the other assist.

The overtime period was dominated by the Islanders, but neither team was able to find the back of the net with DiPietro and Leclaire making big stops. DiPietro stopped Zherdev on the door step with about 25 seconds to go to keep the game tied.

ICE CHIPS:Individual game tickets for the second half of the Islanders' 2005-06 season will go on sale on Saturday, December 10th at 9:30am. Tickets will only be sold at the Nassau Coliseum Box Office on Dec. 10. Remaining tickets will be released to all other public outlets on Dec. 11. Check out the homepage for more details...

Coming into the game, the Islanders had never won a game against the Blue Jackets. That streak is now extended to seven games (0-5-2)...

Earlier this week, Columbus named Adam Foote their captain. He replaced Luke Richardson, who stepped down earlier this season...

Although Columbus scored three power play goals tonight, they entered the game with their power play ranked 30th in the league...